On April 9, BJUT held online conference on the Construction of Opole Confucius Institute and Affiliated Confucius Classrooms. The theme of the conference was “Chinese-Foreign Cooperation for Innovation and Development”, and it was the first working conference of Chinese-foreign partner universities after the rebranding of Confucius Institute. Nie Zuoren, President of BJUT, Zuzanna Donath-Kasiura, Deputy Marshal of the Opolskie Voivodeship, Marcin Lorenc, President of Opole University of Technology, Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, President of Bialystok University of Technology, Marek Pawelczyk, Vice President of Silesian University of Technology, and Ryszard Koziołek, President of University of Silesia and more than 30 heads and relevant teachers of Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms attended the meeting. Guo Fu, Vice President of BJUT presided over the conference.

President Nie extended a warm welcome to the participants from both sides, and expressed sincere gratitude to the Polish brother universities for their strong support and cooperation during the rebranding. He highly affirmed the achievements made by Opole Confucius Institute and the three Confucius Classrooms in communicating Chinese, deepening international understanding of Chinese language and culture, as well as the important role they played in the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in higher education. He stated that after the rebranding, BJUT would actively provide funds, excellent teachers and high-quality courses for the establishment of Confucius Institute, cooperate with these brother universities to create a unique “brand” of Confucius Institute and Classrooms, promote the collaborative innovation and development of “One Institute and Three Classrooms”. Furthermore, BJUT will actively develop intensive cooperation with these universities in such fields as talent cultivation, academic exchanges, scientific research cooperation and joint education to jointly build Sino-Polish University Consortium under “Belt and Road Initiative”.

Zuzanna Donath-Kasiura, Deputy Marshal of Opolskie Voivodeship, highly appreciated the positive role of Confucius Institute in communicating Chinese, deepening international understanding of Chinese language and culture, and boosting local economic and trade development. She stated that the local government would further support the establishment and development of Confucius Institute.

Subsequently, the leaders of these four universities and the heads of Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms respectively outlined the construction and development of Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms and the future work plan. Liu Zhaomiao, Director of the International Office, introduced the efforts made by BJUT in financial management, faculty building and curriculum construction since the rebranding. The leadership of brother universities expressed their deep gratitude to BJUT for supporting the establishment of Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms, and their willingness to continue to strengthen cooperation with BJUT incommunicating Chinese, deepening international understanding of Chinese language and culture in the future, and to further carry out cooperation in joint scientific research and talent cultivation within the framework of Sino-Polish University Consortium under “Belt and Road Initiative”.

With the COVID-19 pandemic raging globally and the severe situation in Poland, BJUT and Polish partner universities have created new opportunities in adversity and opened up a new prospect in the changing situation to actively explore new ideas for the construction and development of Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms. In the future, BJUT will continue to cooperate with these brother universities for collaborative innovation and development, and strive to build Opole Confucius Institute and Confucius Classrooms as a showcase for cooperation and exchanges between the two counties in higher education sector, to promote a more comprehensive, objective and deeper understanding of each other, consolidate the foundation of bilateral friendship, and promote the friendly exchanges between the two nations.